The few, the brave - those of us taking driving lessons right now!

Thanks!

I recently took my practical test and didn't pass because of getting in the wrong lane at a roundabout.  Just like TeaLoverDenise, I had a great test other than that but he counted it as a major fault.  I almost passed despite being taken on a test route that my instructor had never taken me on, including merging on to the A3 at 50 mph and getting the reversing around a corner maneuver.  All to fail over a silly roundabout!

So I had to rebook the test and was discouraged to find the next date available in the end of October, but then I discovered there are programs that will constantly search for earlier test dates and notify you.  I now have a test date in mid-August and there was even one available in 2 weeks, I just couldn't make it.  I used http://www.changedrivingtest.co.uk.  I paid £20 and it was definitely worth it.  There are quite a few programs you can find by googling.  Alternatively just keep checking the site yourself, but I found it worth the money not to have to check myself.

I had my practical test today.. 24 lessons.. and 4 months waiting for an open date for the practical test.. But... I PASSED!! I PASSED!! I PASSED!!  You don't know how worried I was that I had failed when he told me to pull straight into the bay instead of reversing in.. haha.. My heart was pounding in my throat!  I'm going to miss my instructor though. He was a great guy and loads of fun.

CONGRATS!!! GO celebrate!

Congrats!

I have my first driving lesson on Monday. 

I'm panicking a bit as I've been practising reading license plates (eye surgery improved my vision, but completely messed with how I focus on things), and I'm good as long as I'm within 10m. 20m I'm hopeless. So I need to get to an optician and see if they can improve my vision at all so that I can pass the vision requirement of the test.

Congrats!

I have my first driving lesson on Monday. 

I'm panicking a bit as I've been practising reading license plates (eye surgery improved my vision, but completely messed with how I focus on things), and I'm good as long as I'm within 10m. 20m I'm hopeless. So I need to get to an optician and see if they can improve my vision at all so that I can pass the vision requirement of the test.

Part of it might be the letters looking "off" to your brain as well. I have 20/10 vision (gift from my dad who also gave me atrocious hay fever) and the first few times I tried to do the 20m away test I failed miserably. Went off to have my eyes checked and nope, still 20/10, but eventually I got used to the way the letters were shaped. It's just...a different font?
Good luck with your lesson!
(p.s. My new mare is THE BEST )

Part of it might be the letters looking "off" to your brain as well. I have 20/10 vision (gift from my dad who also gave me atrocious hay fever) and the first few times I tried to do the 20m away test I failed miserably. Went off to have my eyes checked and nope, still 20/10, but eventually I got used to the way the letters were shaped. It's just...a different font?

Yeah, I also need to remember the various formats the plates can be in. My BF was helping me last night (as he could see the letters I couldn't), and it did help knowing that what I was trying to puzzle out had to be a letter rather than a number (or vice-verse...the Ts and 7s look exactly alike!)

Good luck with your lesson!
(p.s. My new mare is THE BEST )

Woo! So jealous.

Sigh. I just found out today that I do have to take the whole test.

Backstory: I moved to Switzerland in 2002 and converted my US license there to a full Swiss one. The DVLA website and phone lines told me I could convert my Swiss license (designated country) to a full UK one, just send in the paperwork. Today I received my paperwork all back telling me I couldn't convert my license.

I'm still getting over the anger/frustration about it all, and I will call Monday to try and speak with a supervisor about it and see the regulations they tell me they have in writing somewhere, but...I'm resigned to having to do this nightmare of a test.

On average, how many hours of instruction do you need? I've been driving for 30 years, 7.5 of those in Europe, so I'd think I'd only need maybe 5 hours of driving lessons to teach me to drive for the test. Is this a reasonable expectation?

For the more..ahem...mature among you, did you find that your insurance costs after passing the test were the same as a young person who passed for the first time?

Thanks

I drove for 35 years in the States, roughly 15,000 miles a year, with an unblemished record. I've been driving here as a learner for a year and a half or so. I've taken maybe a dozen lessons. And I have failed the practical test three times (try number four coming up in September).

I don't think I'm typical, though. I have exTREME nerves whenever somebody watches me do something. I've nearly passed every time, with one mistake (turned a little sharply in front of someone first try, stopped a little too abruptly at a red light second try, third time somebody came up behind me as I was pulling out and I kissed the curb).

My husband's insurance company said the rates would go through the roof once I was fully licensed, so make of that what you will.

On average, how many hours of instruction do you need? I've been driving for 30 years, 7.5 of those in Europe, so I'd think I'd only need maybe 5 hours of driving lessons to teach me to drive for the test. Is this a reasonable expectation?

For the more..ahem...mature among you, did you find that your insurance costs after passing the test were the same as a young person who passed for the first time?

Thanks

Yep, insurance rates really suck here.  They are extremely high for new drivers (or new to UK drivers - even drivers with lots of driving experience in other countries), and sometimes you run into strange problems with some companies not insuring two people for two cars, etc. It's also sometimes hard to find someone to insure you if you have had your UK licence for less than one year, or to insure you while you are learning to drive. It's a real pain. Sorry to give bad news!  We have had to switch providers a few times as it seems every time our circumstances change (like buying a second car) we run into issues trying to change our insurance plan and have to switch to someone else.

It's hard to guess how many lessons you might need, as everyone is different, and it depends on so many things, like whether you are learning to drive automatic or manual transmission (and whether or not you have driven manual transmissions before), the type of environment you will be driving in (countryside versus London, etc.), how confident you are with driving here, and other stuff like that. You will just have to see how it goes during your first lesson. Good luck!

I drove for 24 years in the States.. 14 of those years with a standard trans.  I took 24 lessons.  I was very uncomfortable with roundabouts and changing lanes in the middle of a roundabout.  I don't know about the rest of the UK.. But, in Scotland.. for the test.. if you are making a right turn on a roundabout, you have to switch to your left lane right before you exit.  This made me very uncomfortable.  I won't be doing it now that I've passed.. I think it is very stupid as you are most likely to have an accident doing that.  But, they figure that learners drive slower and won't get up to speed fast enough when exiting the roundabout.. Therefore, for the test.. they want you to exit from the left lane. 

I probably could have got away with taking only 12 lessons or so.  But, it was a 4 month wait for my test anyway. So I took extra lessons just to be sure.

About half fail the test.  The test is not cheap to take and takes a long time to get one scheduled (depending on your area).  I recommend extra lessons.

I don't know about the rest of the UK.. But, in Scotland.. for the test.. if you are making a right turn on a roundabout, you have to switch to your left lane right before you exit.  This made me very uncomfortable.  I won't be doing it now that I've passed.. I think it is very stupid as you are most likely to have an accident doing that.  But, they figure that learners drive slower and won't get up to speed fast enough when exiting the roundabout.. Therefore, for the test.. they want you to exit from the left lane.

My least favorite maneuver, too. Not least because it doesn't make sense to me. When you go from the inside lane to the outside, the chances of someone coming up on your left and cruising in your blind spot are simply too high.

My husband had been driving in the states for 9 years and the UK for 1.  We realised he could only drive on his US license for 12 months when he had already been here 11!! Had to rush him through both theory and practical in 4 weeks so he could continue getting to work! 
Just made it with his practical on the Saturday before the following Monday when he would have expired ... phew!
He took three 2 hour lessons and passed first time, but may have taken more if his test date hadnt come up so quick.
Not sure about the insurance, we just added him as a named on my car and it was only about £20 more for the year i think.

Good luck

Just got finished with my first driving lesson. I think I like my instructor, though he's pretty nit-picky (but then, that's what I want/need).

We only did residential roads today (thank goodness, I've survived major London traffic once and am not sure I'd do it again!). I have acquired quite a few bad habits (using the clutch way too much, etc), and then the good habits I do have are backwards (looking left-right-left instead of right-left-right).

Sigh. Decent lesson overall, but man, I do not like driving in London.

My least favorite maneuver, too. Not least because it doesn't make sense to me. When you go from the inside lane to the outside, the chances of someone coming up on your left and cruising in your blind spot are simply too high.

EXACTLY!!  Most likely to be hit by someone entering the roundabout because they do not realize that you are changing lanes at the last moment like a dumbarse and/or the possibility of being hit by someone speeding their way through the roundabout and trying to pass.  Makes no sense to me either.  I've noticed that NO ONE does this except for those taking their driving test.